Coll Writes

Now that the baby is a month old, we’ve settled into somewhat of a routine that’s worked well enough for the last week that it was time to try to make some new meals. My first attempt was a modified version of this recipe from Pinterest. The result? It was delicious and a big hit in this household. I loved it. I can’t wait to make it again. It didn’t even take that long. The longest thing was cleaning out the insides of the peppers. Here’s the recipe I did, made for a family of 3:

Ingredients:

1lb lean ground turkey

3 bell peppers (I used red but you can use red, yellow and/or orange)

1 cup salsa

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup Mexican blend cheese

Sea salt (recommended 1/4 tsp but I did to taste)

Black pepper (recommended 1/2 tsp but I did to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Remove the seeds, core, and membrane from the bell peppers. Slice each one in half.

Cook the ground turkey, breaking it up as it cooks (like you would do for taco meat). Cook until it’s browned and cooked through. Drain any excess fat.

In a large bowl, mix the cooked turkey with the salsa and spices.

Evenly distribute the turkey/salsa mix into each bell pepper

Sprinkle extra Mexican blend cheese on top

Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the bell peppers are hot.

Another week, another new episode of The Broadcast is out. On this week’s episode, titled, “Get Out of My Box,” we start off lightly, discussing my (then future) visit to the Social Security Administration’s office to get Alex’s SS number, Amanda’s issues with the post office’s inconvenient hours for working people, and Shandy’s opportunity to audition to be an extra on “Big Little Lies.” We then move into some serious territory as we revisit a November discussion about gun control, school shootings, student walkouts, etc. The episode ends on a lighter note when we answer some feedback about objects being found in strange places or under crazy circumstances. All in all, it’s a solid ep.

For as much as I love parties and the excuse to throw one, I have never been big about celebrating my birthday. It’s not that I don’t want to have a birthday or get older or whatever; it’s just that it’s 5 weeks after the holidays end, and until my 26th birthday, I celebrated in the cold New York winter, which is my least socially-motivating time of the year, haha. That, and it’s right before Valentine’s Day, so it’s generally a combo birthday/Valentines Day celebration.

These past two years have been a bit quiet on the birthday front. Last year, we were about to move, so the joke was that I “got a house for my birthday.” [Note: I love my house and want to live here for forever, so really, it was sort of the perfect birthday present from the universe. You can hear the crazy story about how we got this house at the beginning of this episode of The Broadcast; direct download

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.] And, of course, this year, Jay was diagnosed with Flu type A and I was in very early labor.

I was a little bit bummed to not do anything for my birthday this year. Jay to the rescue! On Friday, February 23, we had make-up birthday day, where Jay & Zach threw me a birthday just as though it were my actual day. And it was pretty much the best birthday I’ve had in a long time, maybe ever.

It started when I woke up to balloons and decorations. They went all out, with the giant rose gold 34 balloons and rainbow decorations. Zach picked out some of the balloons and rainbow theme himself. 🙂 I LOVED IT.

Happy one-month birthday to our sweet little “29” baby, Alexander Thomas! These past four weeks have been an absolute pleasure getting to know him and there is still so much more to come.

Alex is a sweet-tempered baby who loves snuggles and is just learning to really smile. We can tell that he can see further distances now because things outside or across the room will catch his attention and he prefers to be held up over your shoulder so he can see what’s going on. He seems to want to be where the action is, but is content to watch it. He’s also a good sleeper and he, Mommy and Daddy all just survived his first big growth spurt, where all he wanted to do was eat and suddenly his newborn diapers are almost too small for him.

Our little baby is growing up so fast. <3 I love my boys.

We had a small one-month birthday party for Alex tonight. Party hats are left over from my birthday party, the post of which will be up within the next day or so.

Jay and I are at one of those inevitable couples conundrums: disagreeing about mattresses. Jay HATES our current mattress and I hear about it every damn day and night. He needs no excuse to go in Zach’s room and sleep on his new, more comfortable mattress (a year old), haha.

While I freely admit that we don’t have the Rolls Royce of mattresses (it’s from a 2013 Groupon lol), I find it still comfortable enough not to bother me and don’t think we need a new mattress immediately. I am willing to be persuaded and am open to replacing the current one for the right mattress and price. My problem is that mattresses can be so darn expensive. I know investing in the right one can last a long time and make all of the difference in a good night’s sleep. We’ll check out Mattress Firm (where we got our suuuuuuper comfortable guest mattress) but other than that, I’m going to look online. I’ve heard of Casper since they advertise on literally every podcast ever haha but what are some other ones? Jay is a big advocate for Purple Mattress. Are there other good ones that are quality? If we’re going to drop money on a new king-sized mattress, it may as well be a good one that’s gonna last a while.

Anyone have any suggestions? Or even a promo code? I’m a side or stomach sleeper and Jay is a side sleeper. He has broad shoulders and wants a mattress that accommodates that. Thanks!

Hello, happy Monday! A new episode of The Broadcast came out on Friday afternoon. On this episode, we discuss Alex’s birth (I promise it’s not too gross…), resume our debate over whether or not Ron Weasley lost his v-card to Lavender Brown, and have a really interesting share session about the weirdest places we’ve found things that we’ve lost (that weren’t where we lost them). I also share a story about a recent DMV trip to renew my license and we answer a question about what we’d do if we had to spend a few hours as a man [*spoiler alert* It’s exactly what you’d think]. All in all, I think it’s a really good ep. Check it out!

You can listen to it here, here or via iTunes here. It’s episode 2.31, “Three Broads and a Baby.”

I have never been a great chef, especially on workdays. Meals take too long to make after a long day at work. I have a pretty demanding 3.5-year-old at home, who has always commanded at least 95% of your attention at any time. So, dinners have always been a challenge. Last summer, we decided to finally take the plunge and get a Costco membership, mainly to consolidate all of our shopping trips into a few stores on the weekend (vs. running up to Harris Teeter or Target 4-5 times a week and spending way too much money) and to help meal plan through their pre-made meals. We found an offer on Groupon and went for it and haven’t looked back. Go us.

The downside? All of the Costco pre-made meals are pretty much the exact same every week, haha. After a month or so of them, we need a break from the monotony and to switch it up a little. That’s where Pinterest and some old standbys come in. Back in the early fall, we were on a Costco timeout and making fun things from my Zoodle maker and from Pinterest. Now that I’m going to be home on maternity leave for a few months, I’ll have more time to get back to attempting to cook on my own.

I’m putting out a call for recipes that are inexpensive and fairly uncomplicated. Please share! The best part about Costco meals is they keep us from running out to the stores to spend a lot of money every week. Anything that won’t cost an arm and a leg and is easy to make is a huge, welcomed plus.

On Sunday, February 11, we were discharged from the hospital, after a slight hold-up due to a quick visit to the NICU. Alex’s breathing was funky sounding, particularly when he cried. The pediatrician and nurses evaluated him and noticed his oxygen levels dropped when he would cry, but after monitoring, they would always come back up very quickly. They determined that he probably has a soft windpipe, which makes him a bit noisy, but otherwise healthy. 🙂 He’ll grow out of it by the time he’s 2-years-old. All is well, thankfully.

My parents brought Zachary to the hospital so he could finally meet his baby brother. (Thanks to the flu, all siblings under 12-years-old were banned from the nursery.) It was one of my favorite life moments ever.

Zach was SO HAPPY and SO EXCITED to meet Alex. Oh, my heart. His face lit up when we got off of the elevator and he jumped up and down and ran over to us. I’ll never forget how excited and joyous his face was at seeing me after a few days and seeing Alex for the first time. My heart. Jay had gone down ahead of me so he could get into picture-taking position and got some great shots. My parents also got some really sweet pictures of them meeting for the first time, as well as our first picture as a family of four.

Alex has now been home for two weeks. Zach is very loving and attentive to him. He doesn’t quite understand why his baby brother, who doesn’t need quite as much constant attention and stimulation as he did, may not want to always be touched, kissed, or talked to while he’s trying to nurse or nap, but his constant attention to what Alex wants, is doing, and whether or not he needs to “eat the nipple” or get a diaper change is great. I can tell that he is struggling a little bit with sharing me (he has said a couple of times that I can’t love or snuggle him because I have to love and snuggle Alex), but I am trying to give him some reassurance and one-on-one time, so I think he’ll come around as time goes on and things become a bit more normal. I’m just glad that he loves his baby brother and has a genuine interest in him and his well-being. He’s a really great kid.

My little Alex is two-weeks-old today! He’s a great eater and more importantly, a great sleeper, and we can already tell that he’s a bit more chill with a more “introspective” personality than his big brother was/has, though he gets this playful look in his eyes when he’s making eye contact with his mommy. He gets along great with his big brother Zachy and his big kitty sister Zoe. He only cries when he’s hungry, sleepy and wants to be held, and has a dirty diaper. He’s very picky about his diaper status and will let you know if there’s even a droplet of something in there that shouldn’t be, lol. He sleeps much of the day and enjoys looking out the windows and around the living room and staring at the mobile in his crib when he’s awake. He hates tummy time but will lift his head up if he’s pressed against mommy or daddy’s shoulders. The song “Here Comes the Sun” generally calms him down when he’s upset.

Xan the Man (yeah, I know; we’re still workshopping cheesy nicknames) generally sleeps from about 10 or 11 p.m. until around 7:30 or 8 a.m., only waking up every 3-4 hours to eat. The other night, he slept from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m. and his parents thought that was just bananas!

As of this morning, he’s 8lbs, 7oz and 20.125 inches long, which puts him in the 47% for weight and 30% for height. He’s the perfect addition to our family and we couldn’t love him more. We are so thankful he’s in our lives and that he’s a healthy and happy little baby.

My main jam podcast, The Broadcast, is still going strong, almost two years later! This week, we released a “maternity leave podcast,” a crossover with Alice and Martha from The Real Weird Sisters. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, and want to hear a more “adult-themed” Harry Potter-related podcast episode, then I have the perfect podcast for you! Check it out, it’s really fun! I think the Harry Potter talk starts around 25 minutes in, but the beginning is fun too.

You can listen to it here, here or via iTunes here. It’s episode 2.30, “I’m With Hersicus: The Real Weird Crossover.”